The Learning Environment
Dr. Steve
Training & Development
INP6325
The Learning Environment
The learning environment includes:
Transfer
Trainee
Readiness
Learning
Principles
Trainee Readiness
Trainee Readiness - Trainees won’t learn if they don’t want to
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(motivation) or can’t (prerequisite KSAs)
Prerequisites
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Trainability Test - Assess trainees aptitude prior to training
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Provides realistic expectations of necessary job KSAs
Assesses trainees’ functional level (baseline)
Used to assess training effectiveness
Motivation
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Trainees must believe assessment of their current state is accurate
Ensure self-efficacy and internal locus of control
Ensure relevance of training outcomes
Trainee must value improved performance
Trainee Readiness
Design of Training Environments
 Theories of Learning and Motivation – to create a
supportive learning environment
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Trainees believe they can successfully complete training
and that the training will be useful for improving job
performance
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Not every approach is suitable for every situation
Trainee Readiness
Theories of Learning and Motivation
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Social Learning Theory – The cognitive
representations of future outcomes generate the
motivation for future behavior.
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Self-efficacy – whether you believe you will succeed
affects your behavior
Modeling – Learn through watching others
Relevance of SLT to training:
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Training should develop cognitive, social, & behavioral
competencies through modeling
Training should improve confidence and self-efficacy
Training should improve motivation through establishing goals
Trainee Readiness
Theories of Learning and Motivation
Social Learning Theory
 Applications
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Trainees should experience some level of early success to
improve self-efficacy, but also learn to overcome failures
Trainees should observe successful models
Trainees should receive encouragement to exert effort
Examples
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Role playing to train assertiveness, ethics, com skills, etc
Use of video to show good examples
Trainee Readiness
Theories of Learning and Motivation
Goal Setting – goals serve to motivate trainee to
exert effort in order to attain goal
 Goals:
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Should be specific and challenging
Must be matched to trainee skill level
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Must include feedback
Must be accepted by trainee
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Use intermediate goals to observe progress
Make trainee part of goal setting to increase commitment
Examples
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Athletic training, simulation, gaming, psychomotor
Trainee Readiness
Theories of Learning and Motivation
Goal Setting Empirical Results
Percent of possible
performance
100
90
80
70
Do your best
60
Specific hard goal
50
40
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Blocks of four weeks
From Latham & Baldes (1975), “The Practical Significance of Locke’s Theory of Goal Setting,” Journal of Applied Psychology, 60, p.123
Trainee Readiness
Theories of Learning and Motivation
Expectancy Theory (VIE) – trainees will exert effort
if they believe they can succeed and they value the
outcome
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Assumes:
Effort  Performance  Reward  Goal
Expectancy – belief that performance is related to effort
Instrumentality – belief that performance will be rewarded
Valence – the degree that reward is valued
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Application: training should ensure high levels of each
Example: skills training for piece meal jobs where
improving output will lead to higher compensation
Trainee Readiness
Theories of Learning and Motivation
Reinforcement Theory – Based on “Law of Effect”
that if consequences of a behavior are good, the
likelihood of repeating that behavior is increased.
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SD: R - - Sr+
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SD- Discriminative stimulus – sets stage for R
R – Response – behavior
Sr+ - Reinforcing stimulus – money, praise, recognition, day off,
etc.
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Application: Shape behavior to reduce tardiness and
absences, increase productivity, etc.
Example: Every time worker arrives on time during the
week has name put in lottery for Friday drawing
Trainee Readiness
Theories of Learning and Motivation
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Principles for using Reinforcement:
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Should be given immediately after response (KOR
or feedback)
Reinforce every correct response, UNTIL the
behavior is learned
When behavior is learned switch to intermittent
schedules of reinforcement
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This will increase resistance to extinction
Punishment should not be included in training
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Often wrong behavior is punished such as trying
Punishment suppresses behavior, doesn’t eliminate it
Leads to negative emotional side effects
Trainee Readiness
Theories of Learning and Motivation
Schedules of Reinforcement
Variable Ratio
400
400
Fixed Ratio
300
300
Variable Interval
200
200
Fixed Interval
100
0
0
0
5
5
10
10
15
15
20
20
Time (Minutes)
25
25
30
30
35
35
40
40
Trainee Readiness
Theories of Learning and Motivation
Need Theories – Training only motivating if it meets
the needs of trainees
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Find out what motivates trainees
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Ex: If nAch allow early success, If nAff allow teamwork
Maslow
SA
Esteem
Social
Safety
Physiological
McClelland
nAch
nPow
nAff
Trainee Readiness
Theories of Learning and Motivation
Equity Theory -A social comparison theory that
asks, “Is the ratio of what you receive from your
job as compared to what you put in the same
proportion as that of other workers?”
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Is (Input / Outcome) self = (Input / Outcome) other?
Inputs – education level, intelligence, experience, effort,
skill, expertise
Outcomes – pay, benefits, status, recognition, working
conditions
Training as an input (“I have training in this area”) or
training as an outcome (“I was promised this training”)
Learning Principles
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Learning principles gained from psychological study,
such as feedback, distribution of practice,
meaningfulness of content, etc. are insufficient for
designing effective training (Gagne, 1962).
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Must:
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Identify individual components of task
Develop instruction for each component
Sequence instruction optimally
Learning Principles
Gagne’s Instructional Theory – Different categories of
things to be learned require different learning conditions.
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Five Categories
1.
Intellectual Skills (procedural knowledge)
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2.
Verbal Information (declarative knowledge)
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3.
Knowing when and how to use procedural or declarative knowledge
Motor Skills
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5.
What
Cognitive Strategies
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4.
How to rules
Muscle activity, sports, driving, etc.
Attitudes
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Preferences
Learning Principles
ACT* Model of Learning – three stage model of
progression from novice to expertise
1.
Declarative Learning – facts, book knowledge
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2.
Knowledge Compilation – apply rules to the
declarative knowledge
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3.
Performance is slow and choppy, relies on verbal
memory
Performance is deliberate, learner is occupied
w/following rules
Procedural Knowledge – knowing how
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Smooth performance, frees up cognitive resources to do
other things
Learning Principles
Fleishman’s Task Taxonomy – particular KSAs
necessary to conduct a task may change
throughout the course of the task
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Reaction time: speed required to respond to stimulus
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Ex: Assembly-line work
Multi-limb coordination: coordinated movement of several
limbs in the operation of a control
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Driving a manual transmission truck
Gross body equilibrium: control of balance w/non-visual
cues
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gymnast
Learning Principles
Massed vs. Distributive Practice
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Distributive practice better because
1.
2.
3.
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Learner avoids fatigue (not practicing wrong behavior)
Gives learner chance to consolidate information
Better recall likely if learned under variety of settings
Application
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Cramming for a test may benefit immediate response,
but hinders retention. Distributive study allows
information to be consolidated and built upon
Practicing free throws or pitching while fatigued means
practicing bad mechanics
Learning Principles
Organizers – Cues that allow learner to take advantage of
existing knowledge
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Advanced Organizers – prior to training to prepare trainee
Comparative Organizers – later in training to help clarify
distinctions
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Organizers
1.
2.
3.
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Focus attention on important components of information
Organize incoming information
Show relationship between new and existing information
Application
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Providing initial outline of what is to come
Learning Principles
Whole vs. Part task learning
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Whole – practice task as a single unit
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Application – use w/ high inter-relationship among parts
Ex: learning to ride a bicycle (steering, balance, pedaling must be
learned at same time)
Part – learn individual components of task separately, then
join together later (segmentation)
1.
2.
3.
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Identify task components that are NOT interdependent
Identify most important components
De-emphasize certain components
Application – use w/ low inter-relationship among components, or
when tapping different types of memory
Ex: learning to build cabinets (cutting, joining, finishing learned and
mastered separately)
Learning Principles
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Guided Training - (training wheels) – prevents
learner from making catastrophic errors
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Avoids confusion in learning complex tasks
Don’t eliminate errors altogether (they’re learning
material), but keep from making errors that impair
learning
Learning Principles
Overlearning - practice above & beyond that necessary for
errorless performance
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Increases resistance to extinction (improves retention)
Increases the ease of “re-learning”
Decreases reaction time
Overlearning 
May lead to automaticity
Application
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Motor skill training
Performance
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Practice Trials
Learning Principles
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Above Real-Time Training - practice trials that
are faster than would be experienced on the job
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Difficulty of practice assumed to make actual task seem
easier.
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Like swinging a weighted baseball bat in warm-ups then
switching to standard bat in the game
Equivocal results in the research
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Violates other principles for enhancing transfer (“train as you
fight”)
Learning Principles
Mental Models – how people mentally represent the
task they are performing
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Represent & organize info by interconnected chunks
(schema)
Experts organize schemata into larger, more meaningful/
easy to access chunks.
Novices may no see all relevant connections
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Use mnemonic devices to help novices organize and retrieve info
Learning Principles
Feedback – knowledge of results (KOR)
Provides
 Information: allows learner to adjust response
 Motivation: provides goal to decrease diff between actual
and ideal performance
 Reinforcement: praise or self-satisfaction in being right
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Practice by itself is not training – must include feedback
Practice w/out feedback may teach wrong skills
Learning Principles
Feedback Applications
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Must be perceived accurately (negative feedback may be
seen as personal attack)
Belief in accuracy of feedback
Too much feedback may lead to external LOC
Negative feedback often delayed
Individual differences in acceptance of feedback
Learning Principles
Schmidt & Bjork (1992) challenge the basic tenets of
feedback – focus on maximizing training
performance may be harmful in long run
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Increased task variability in practice leads to worse training
performance, but improved generalizability
Transfer and retention (behavior criteria) may be better
indicators of training effectiveness than skill acquisition (learning
criteria)
Immediate feedback better, but
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Infrequent feedback improves retention (intermittent schedule of
reinforcement)
Too frequent feedback becomes integrated part of task making it
artificial and preventing normal cognitive processing
May use guided training to wean trainee off of feedback
Delayed feedback aids in generalizing to other stimulus events
Transfer
Transfer of Training – how well learning in one
environment, enhances performance in another.
 Positive Transfer – learning training task improves
performance on actual task
 Negative Transfer – learning training task decreases
performance on actual task
 caused when one learns different response to same or
similar stimulus.
 old response competes with new response for same
stimulus.
 must unlearn old response
 ex: when switching from Lotus 1-2-3 to Excel software, the
spreadsheets look the same, but require different commands for
creating formulas and specifying cell ranges.
Transfer
Transfer paradigms
Task Stimuli Response
Transfer Comments
Same
Same
Hi Positive Practice on actual
equipment
Different
Different
None
Poorly designed training
Different
Same
Positive
Most common. Learn
necessary response in safe
controlled environment
Same
Different
Negative
Lotus to Excel
Transfer
Maximize transfer by:
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Increase similarity of training stimulus and response to
actual task’s stimulus and response (High Fidelity)
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Caution: Highest fidelity not necessarily the best approach
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Trainees may have difficulty on actual task due to its complexity,
making training more complex just makes it harder to learn
Organizational Climate must be conducive to transfer
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Supportive of using new skills
Reward appropriate behavior, encourage trainees to stick with it
despite initial errors
Spell out expectations before training begins
Identify potential obstacles & possible strategies for overcoming
Instructional Guidelines
 Use Advance Organizers: At beginning of training, the
material/media should clearly inform the trainee of the learning
objectives
 Provide Knowledge of Results: During practice provide students
with immediate knowledge of results about correct and incorrect
answers
 Develop Mental Models: Emphasize distinctive features which can be
remembered in the form of mental pictures instead of abstract words
 e.g. diagrams, pictures, charts, acronyms
 Segment Training: Break down the overall learning task into
manageable steps or unit when any of the following conditions exist:
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lower ability students, complex material, & overall task composed of small
parts
 Part-task / Whole-task Training: Provide learner practice on specific
components of the task for: a) simple task-practice in entirety, & b)
complex task-practice in parts and then in entirety
Trainer
Qualities of a good trainer
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Well organized/prepared
Outlines what is expected
Designs the sequence of learning materials
Emphasizes conceptual understanding
Lectures are well organized
Answers questions clearly
Uses examples
Sets difficult, but attainable goals
Demonstrates usefulness of material
Uses visual aids effectively
Enthusiastic
Trainer
Checklist for instructor preparedness
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Publicized program
Informed all about time and place
Arranged details of meeting room
Checked physical requirements for session (seating, AV)
Prepared necessary materials (handouts, slides, etc.)
Made sure equipment is working with backup (overhead)
Established training session objective
Studied the lesson plan (points, questions, examples)
Training Recommendations
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Instruction should be consistent with cognitive,
physical, and psychomotor processes of mastery
Learner should be induced to practice behavior or
recall information (Active Learning)
Feedback should be accurate, credible, timely, and
constructive
Training should increase self-efficacy and valence
Training methods should fit trainees aptitude and
prior KSAs